Bangladesh likely to deport ULFA leader

Bangladesh is likely to deport jailed United Liberation Front of Asom leader Anup Chetia to India as he sought his repatriation along with two other detained members of the outfit after languishing in jail for 16 years, officials said here on Saturday.

“Wait [and see],” Home Minister Mahiuddin Khan Alamgir told PTI, without elaborating, replying to a question when Chetia was expected to be deported.

But a Home Ministry official preferring anonymity said the ULFA leader was shifted to Kashimpur Central Jail on the outskirts of Dhaka on Friday as his petition was being reviewed for necessary actions. The ULFA’s founder-general secretary sought political asylum in Bangladesh thrice, in 2005, 2008 and 2011, after Bangladesh police arrested him in December 1997. He was subsequently handed down seven years of jail terms by two courts for cross-border intrusion, carrying fake passports and illegally keeping foreign currencies.

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